


Game Of Chess

by Kathendale



Series: Game of Chess [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-02-09 12:51:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18638494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kathendale/pseuds/Kathendale
Summary: Chess endgame. In chess and chess-like games, the endgame (or end game or ending) is the stage of the game when few pieces are left on the board. The line between middlegame and endgame is often not clear, and may occur gradually or with the quick exchange of a few pairs of pieces.We're in the Endgame now."Whatever it takes."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, huge shoutout to my discord server for being very enthusiastic about this story. You know who you are! Second of all, this story is the product of me wanting a happier ending to our little story. Yes, I was satisfied with the ending of Endgame. But at the same time I wasn't. Thus, this was born. Please enjoy, comment, bookmark, and leave kudos!!

Tony smiled sadly as he slumped down to the floor of the ship, tapping the helmet lightly. “Let’s give this one last try, shall we?” He murmured, pressing the power button. “This thing on? Hey Miss Potts,” He said, leaning back against the wall for support. “If you find this recording, don’t post it on social media. It's gonna be a real tear jerker.” He joked weakly, grinning at the horribleness of the situation before him.

 

“I don’t know if you’re ever gonna see these. Or even know if you’re still… Oh God I hope so...” Tony trailed off, not able to form the words for what he wanted to say, and decided to move on with the message. “Today’s day… 21? No, 22. You know, if it wasn’t for the existential terror of steering into the little old void of space, I’d say I feel a little better today.” He admitted.

 

“Infection has run its course, thanks to the blue meanie back there. Oh, cute, I love her. Very practical. Only a tiny bit sadistic.” Tony continued on with the message, finishing it up with, “When I drift off, I will, dream about you.” He patted the helmet gently, lovingly as he whispered, “It’s always you.” Tony powered down the helmet, tears gathering in his eyes.

 

The following morning, the only sound that could be heard on the ship was the labored breathing of Tony. His eyes fluttered open and closed repeatedly, and suddenly he could feel himself being dragged. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at his hand to see a blue one clasping onto his. Nebula. She sat him upright in one of the pilot chairs, and rested her hand on his shoulder before walking away.

 

Tony closed his eyes, accepting his fate. A sudden burning light blazed in his face, causing his eyes to flutter before screwing shut on instinct against the blazing light. He squinted, trying hard to see what was there. The glare of light began to lessen, and he moved his hand away from his face, finally letting his tears fall. A powerful woman floated in front of the ship, followed with a salute before she flew under their ship and began to make her way back to Earth with them.

* * *

Steve Rogers stood in the compound bathroom after he had finished shaving, staring forlornly into a mirror. He frowned when said mirror began to shake, eyes narrowing as the whole building shook. He raced outside, accompanied by Rhodey, Natasha, and Bruce. A strange woman who appeared to glow slowly landed, carrying an entire ship. And out stepped Tony.

 

“I couldn’t stop him.” Tony whispered, collapsing into Steve’s arms. “Neither could we.” Steve admitted, fully embracing the other man in a hug. Tony’s breath stuttered, before he breathed out. “I lost the kid.” He said, voice shaky with pain. Steve looked confused, before he shook his head. “Tony, we all lost people.” He whispered softly, still haunted by the way Bucky turned to dust before his very eyes.

 

Pepper rushed forward, embracing Tony next. “Oh my God.” She breathed out, tears flowing freely. “You’re-you’re really here.” She whispered, resting their foreheads together as she cried. He hugged her tightly, never wanting to let go. Tony kissed her on the cheek before allowing her to wrap an arm around his shoulders and guide him inside.

 

Rocket walked up to Nebula, a hopeful expression in place. “Is-?” Nebula shook her head, and allowed Rocket to sit beside her, holding his small paw as a form of comfort.

 

The team gathered around a computer, where names of the fallen or missing flashed before them. “It’s been 23 days since Thanos disappeared, governments are in pieces.” Natasha reported, looking on at the faded people/missing people’s names.

 

“The parts that are working are trying to take a census. It looks like, Thanos did, exactly what he said he was gonna do. He… wiped out, fifty percent, of all living creatures.” Natasha said, a look of disbelief still plastered on her face. “Where is he now?” Tony demanded, wheeling forward in his wheelchair.

 

Steve shook his head. “We don’t know, he just, opened a portal to somewhere, walked through, and disappeared.” Tony chose to ignore this, instead looking at Thor, who appeared to be brooding. “What’s wrong with him?”

 

Rocket looked up. “Oh, he’s pissed. He thinks he failed. Which he did. But there’s a lot of that going around, ain’t there?” Thor looked up to glare angrily at the Raccoon, but it held no real power behind it.

 

Tony perked up for a second. “Okay, if I’m gonna be honest, for an exact second I thought you were a build-a-bear.”

 

“Maybe I am.”

 

“We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks with no sign of where he could be. We’re at a standstill.” Steve admitted, frustrated. “Deep space scans, satellites, nothing.” He grunted after finishing what he said. “Tony, you fought him, didn’t you?” Tony looked around, pretending to be confused. “What do you mean, I fought him? No, what are you talking about? He wiped my face with a moon.” Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, did he give you any clues? Any coordinates? Anything?” Tony pretended to shoot himself in the head, making Steve sigh.

 

“Tony, I need you right now.”

 

“Yeah, and I needed you. As in, past tense. What you need, it’s too late buddy. You know what I need? I need to shave.” Tony growled, knocking a bowl aside. “I remember Steve telling us, what we needed, was a suit of armor, around the world.” Tony stated, pulling needles out of his arm.

 

“I said we’d lose. You said, ‘we’d do that together too.’ And where did that bring us? Me nearly dead in a bunker. I’ve got nothing for you, Cap. No clues, no coordinates, no strategies, zip, zilch, zero, nada. No trust.” Tony took in a shuddering breath. “Liar.” Tony proceeded to rip off the nano tech housing unit, and then shoved it into Steve’s hand. “Here, take this.” He spat. Tony proceeded to collapse, much to everyone in the room’s alarm.

* * *

Rhodey left the room where Tony lay in a hospital bed, Pepper at his side. Rhodey let out a long sigh before talking. “Bruce gave him a sedative, it’s gonna take a while for him to sleep off. It’ll probably take all day.” Carol stepped forward. “You guys take care of him, I’ll be back.” Steve looked on, confused. “Where are you going?”

 

“To kill Thanos.” She said sharply. “Hey, you know, we usually work as a team. Hell, do you even know where he is?” Natasha responded, just as sharply. “I have people who can help me find him.”

 

“I know where he is.” Everyone looked to Nebula, who sat in one of the chairs placed about. “All my time with him, I would ask, where would we go when the work was done? And he would always repeat back to me, ‘the garden.’”

 

“Great, so Thanos is living it up on some little farm while we brood?” Rhodey asked. “Hell, how do we know this is going to be any different than before?” 

 

“Because before you didn’t have me.” Rhodey glared at her, done with her ignorance. “Look, everyone in this room is about that super hero life, so mind telling us where the hell you’ve been?”

 

“There are a lot of other planets. And sadly, they didn’t have you guys.” Thor abruptly stood up, stalking over to Carol who turned to face him. He summoned Stormbreaker, who flew so close it moved her hair. She didn’t even flinch. “I like this one.” Thor stated.

 

Steve looked on with a stoney face. “Let’s go get this son of a bitch.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers pay Thanos a visit.

The Avengers stayed in space, waiting for Carol to finish running a stealth mission and for her to gather intel. She floated back up, before speaking. “No armies, no security measures, he’s all alone. It’s just him.” She said, looking confused and frustrated.

* * *

The Avengers broke into Thanos’ little hut, Carol sucker punching him in the mouth. Thanos let out a roar of rage and surprise, batting her away, only to have Nebula attack him next with a battle cry. “Like I said before, you should have killed me!” She roared, digging the blade into his cheek.

 

Thor stepped forward, eyes glowing with power. “Because of you, because of you, thousands, millions are dead. All for what? For your own sick madness?” Thor growled out, lifting his axe. “THOR, WAIT!” Steve shouted, and the Asgardian hesitated, looking back to the man.

 

“Where are the stones, Thanos?” Steve whispered, voice cold. “I destroyed them.” Thanos said. “What, no, he has to be lying. He used them just two days ago!” Bruce shouted. “I used the stones, to destroy the stones.” Bruce shook his head. “No, he has to be lying.” Nebula let out a soft sigh. “My father is many things, but a liar is not one of them.”

 

“Ahh, thank you daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harsh-” With a mighty roar, Thor chopped off Thanos’ arm, making the titan bellow in pain. “This is the least you deserved.” Thor growled. With that, the Avengers left Thanos, taking the Gauntlet with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short! Next chapter will be extra long, this was just filler!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Scott reunite after Scott escapes the Quantum Realm.

**5 Years Later**

It had been five years since Thor had chopped off Thanos’ arm, taking the Gauntlet. The Mad Titan had escaped the planet before they could detain him, and was loose in the universe, sadly. The group were still studying the Gauntlet, trying to learn more about it. They had found nothing new in the past five years. Steve sat in his therapy group, letting out a slow breath.

 

A man talked about how he went on a date, and how both he and the other man had cried about everything, about how they comforted each other after the loss of each family. Steve smiled gently. “It’s good, getting back out in the world. Doing something. Going on a date.” Steve said, trying not to think of Sam, or, God, Bucky. Bucky who died in front of him, leaving him broken.

 

“We all need to move on.” Steve murmured softly, drawing in a deep breath.

* * *

Natasha sighed, frustrated. “And what’s been happening on your end, Okoye?” She asked, hands on her head. “There has been an earthquake in the mid atlantic.” The Wakandan said. Natasha nodded, looking to Carol. The former human shook her head. “Still no sign of Thanos, I’m not sure how he’s still hiding after 5 years.”

 

The Avengers knew that Thanos was hiding somewhere, most likely licking his wounds and healing. They were trying to find him, not exactly sure what to do when they did. Kill him? Detain him? Imprison him? None of those seemed like viable solutions. Steve walked into the room, holding a few shirts. Without turning around, Natasha asked a question. “You here to do your laundry?” Steve stopped and grinned slightly. “And to see an old friend.”

 

Natasha turned around, her face softening as Steve sat across from her. “I keep telling people they need to move on.” Steve said with a confident smirk. “Some do, but not us. Not us.” He murmured. Natasha smiled as well, picking at her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

* * *

Meanwhile, a rat scurried around inside an ugly brown van, accidentally flipping some switches. The rat let out a squeak of surprise, leaping off the panel as it came to life. The portal in the trunk spat out a man dressed in red and black, who let out a groan of pain at the sudden exit from the Quantum Realm. He quickly patted out the sparks on his suit.

 

He looked around, eyes wide with confusion. “Hope?” He choked out, confused and scared as hell. He got a sign and a marker, writing HELP! In big letters and waved it around in front of the security camera, finally getting the guard’s attention.

 

Scott was soon on his way out with a little wagon of items, still confused on where Hank, Hope, and Janet went. He had made it back to a neighborhood when he noticed all the missing papers. He looked on in disbelief as they plastered a telephone pole. A kid rode past him on a bicycle, and he called out after him. “Kid, hey kid! What the hell happened here?” The boy didn’t respond and pedaled off.

 

Scott frowned. He made his way to a national park, where many walls stood, reading names of missing. His eyes widened in shock. “No, no no no.” He muttered, racing around. Soon, he found what he was looking for. On one of the walls, in bold, capital letters, it read, ‘SCOTT LANG.’

 

“What?” He whispered. His eyes widened. He raced back to Maggie’s house and frantically rang the doorbell, only for a young girl to open the door and look on in shock. She flung herself forward to hug him. “Is it really you?” The girl sobbed. Scott breathed out, realizing who it was. “Cassie?” He whispered.

 

She nodded. He pushed her back slightly, looking her up and down. “Yo-you’re so big!” He exclaimed before pulling her back into a hug, choking back his tears. “Is Clint with…?” He trailed off as Cassie shook her head and frowned with worry. Where could the other man be? The last thing he remembered was Clint had gone to visit Laura and his kids.

* * *

Bruce stood in front of Natasha, who was ready to board the quinjet. “Are you sure about this? We haven’t been able to contact him for the past five years.” Bruce said, worry evident on his face. She sighed, a look of pain on her face. “We owe this, we need to find him. For Scott, but mostly for Cassie. She needs him. He doesn’t seem to realize it.” Suddenly, the radio began to crackle. “Hello, is anyone there? This is Scott Lang!” Bruce pulled up the footage to reveal a man in his thirties with a young girl in a brown truck who appeared to be Cassie. “Is this an old message?” Natasha asked, raising from her seat.

 

Bruce shook his head. “It’s the front door.” Scott made a motion with his hand. “Can you buzz me up?” Bruce let Scott up, and when he figured out where they were going, he quickly hopped on board. “I’m going. I need to see him.” Scott said firmly, refusing to budge. Natasha let out a frustrated noise but nodded in understanding. “Cassie can stay with me.” Bruce quickly said.

 

With a nod to Bruce, Scott and Natasha stepped into the quinjet, ready to set off for Mexico.

* * *

The quinjet touched down in Mexico, and Scott and Natasha rushed off it, ignoring the pouring rain. Scott’s hand flew to his mouth when he saw the carnage that Clint had created. “Oh my God.” He whispered in disbelief. Clint’s shoulder’s stiffened up as he slowly turned around, his own eyes widening in shock.

 

“Scott? You’re alive?” He whispered in wonder. Scott slowly nodded, but tears filled his vision. “Oh, Clint, what have you done?” Those words echoed in Clint’s head as he looked around at the bodies littering the streets. He bowed his head in shame, and Scott walked forward, intertwining their fingers.

 

“I’m here. I’m real.” Scott whispered as Clint trembled. They kissed under the moonlight, reunited at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rEuNiTeD aNd It FeElS sO gOoD


	4. Chapter 4

Clint, Natasha, and Scott had finally made their way back to the compound, and Scott babbled for a bit, his mind all over the place. He finally stopped, asking, “is that anyone’s sandwich? I’m starving.” Natasha held a hand up. “Scott, what are you talking about?” He paused, chewing for a minute. “Alright, have any of you ever studied Quantum Physics?” He asked, looking around at Clint, Steve, and Natasha.

 

“Only to make conversation.” Natasha admitted, while Clint and Steve shook their heads. “Well, after Thanos, I got trapped in the Quantum realm.” Natasha frowned, feeling sympathy. “That must have been a long five years, I’m sorry Scott.” Scott shook his head. “Except, it wasn’t. For me, it was five hours. Time works differently in the Quantum realm.”

 

Steve stepped up now. “Scott, what are you talking about?” Scott gestured with his hand. “I’m saying, what if we could go back to a certain point in time, say, before Thanos, and stop him?” Natasha’s eyes widened. “And stop him from ever getting the stones.” She whispered. “What she said.” Steve raised an eyebrow. “Scott, are you saying we should make a time machine?”

 

“No, no no, that’s…. Exactly what I’m saying.” He said with a sigh. Clint laughed softly, resting their foreheads together again. “You’re so smart.” He whispered.

* * *

Bruce, Rocket, and Cassie made their way to New Asgard, sitting in the back of a beat up pickup truck. “You shouldn’t have come!” A familiar accented voice called. Bruce smiled. “Ahh, Valkyrie. Good to see you, angry girl!” He said, smiling like an idiot. She looked on in disbelief.

 

“I think I liked you either of the other ways.” She admitted, making Bruce remember the reason they were here. Bruce grimaced slightly, before opening his mouth. Valkyrie beat him to it. “He won’t so you.” Bruce nodded slightly, “it’s that bad?” She sighed in annoyance. “He only comes down once a month for… supplies.” She said, looking to the barrels of beer. Bruce nodded with a big grimace. “It’s that bad.” He whispered.

 

Rocket made his way to the small looking little hut, Bruce not far behind. Rocket knocked loudly and got no response. “Maybe, he’s doing… Something important?” Cassie suggested hesitantly. Suddenly, they heard a mumbling accented voice, something about the lack of sunlight. It was Thor.

 

“Are you here to try to get me out of the house?” He asked in a raspy voice. “No, pal, we’re just here to see you.” Thor turned around at the sound of Bruce’s voice, and his face lit up. “Friend!” He shouted, face now alight with happiness. “It’s so good to see you all, he offered an unwanted hug to Rocket, then got a hug in return from Cassie.

 

“W-what are you all doing here?” He asked, hiccuping slightly. “We’re here, because there may be a chance to undo what Thanos has done.” Thor froze, before grabbing ahold of Bruce’s shirt. “D-don’t, say that name.” Thor stuttered out.

 

“Yeah, man, that word is banned around here.” Korg said, and Miek nodded. Bruce smiled serenely, gently placing his hand over Thor’s. “Please let go of me.” He whispered. Thor staggered back, and Cassie looked on, finally having enough.

 

“Uncle Thor, we need you. I know you’re in a little rut right now, but we have a chance. We have a chance to undo all this, now that my father is back.” Thor sat up abruptly. “Tha man of ants is alive? But how?” He said softly. “He was trapped in the Quantum Realm.” Thor’s face turned serious. “Let’s do this.” He said gravely.


End file.
